CLA - FA Bagger Aspiring Cobalt developer. Huge landholding, B Borg, page-735

Yep, it's geared to Co price alright. I'll eat my hat if any thorough feasibility comes back with an opex of much less than US$100 per ton of ore mined at 2mtpa.

A couple of thoughts:
1. Moderate dip and ~ 5m intersects (true width). Lots of waste handling.
2. Very fine grained sulphides. Met. report didn't mention mesh size, (instead promoted recovery for a concentrate that would appear to require further beneficiation prior to sale). Grinding costs could be on the upside. Note that the minor semi-massive sulphides (perhaps re-mobilised) described in core recently is atypical for the ore. Also due to the potential for extra processing, real world recovery only has downside from initial lab findings.

Onto the back of the envelope:
1. Head grade looks like it should achieve around 1600ppm CoEq. At $US70,000/t, that's $112 per mined ton, vs a (very hypothetical) $100 opex.
2. Add for AISC, and repayment of capital, and $112 per mined ton is sub-economic/marginal on those rough figures at today's price.

Speculators will be seeking comfort in a sustained price rise in Co. That's a separate discussion. However, prior to the GFC, Co spiked to about $120,000/t from where it fell to more recent lows just above $30K. As far as I know, no new mines with cobalt as the primary focus were developed during the pre-GFC price spike, and continued to be sustainable in the weaker price regime.

I provide this post to add to the fundamental assessments above, to allow debate on costs. As always for sustainable mining, the core issues are costs, cash flow, cut-off grades, and IRR, lesser so short-term fluctuating commodity prices, and even lesser so in ground value of metal.